Dorney Swimmer Died Of Heart Condition * Medical Officials Say Little Could Be Done To Save The Stricken Teen.

July 18, 1996|by SEEMA MEHTA, The Morning Call

A heart condition caused a Delaware boy's death Tuesday after lifeguards pulled him from the wave pool at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, the Lehigh County coroner said yesterday.

An autopsy revealed Nicholas Hitch, 17, of Wilmington was born with an aberrant left coronary artery, Coroner Wayne Snyder said at a news conference at the park.

The left side of Hitch's heart was receiving deoxygenated blood, which caused scarring and made the right side of his heart work extra hard, Snyder said. The condition is usually unknown until it causes death, he added.

"This is an abnormal heart. The left coronary artery normally comes off the aorta. In his case, it came off the pulmonary artery. According to the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy, this condition usually causes death in infancy. This abnormality is a well-known, well-described cause of death."

As an infant, Hitch showed signs of epilepsy. Seizures continued until he was 11 or 13, Snyder said.

"The fact that when he was born he had this abnormality -- that could have caused the seizures," he said. The condition "would not have been found unless a physician would have had a reason to examine the heart. If he doesn't show any abnormal signs, they're not going to do it."

Snyder said he is unsure if Hitch had a seizure while he was in the wave pool.

"People can describe it as a seizure. I can't tell if it was a seizure or not," he said.

Hitch's mother, who was with him in the pool, was concerned her younger child may have the same heart condition, the coroner said.

People who have this condition could die at any time. "All of a sudden, they're doing what they enjoy -- jogging, running -- and the next second they drop over," he said.

Snyder said it is highly unlikely that Hitch could have been saved.

"If you had an ambulance crew standing right next to you when he dropped, maybe there's a possibility. But I believe that to be highly improbable," he said.

A neuropathologist will examine Hitch's brain to learn more about his death. Findings, which will have no bearing on the cause of death, will not be available for months, Snyder said.

Lifeguards saw Hitch climbing a ladder out of the wave pool and fall back in the water around 4:19 p.m., the coroner said. They reached him within seconds and pulled him out. The park's emergency medical technicians administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

The Cetronia Ambulance Corps responded. Dr. William Zajdel, the corps' medical director and a Lehigh Valley Hospital emergency room physician, heard the call, met the ambulance at the gate and took charge.

Paramedics began advanced life support procedures in the ambulance.

"We did everything we would know to do as if we were in the emergency room department," Zajdel said. Still, "Out-of-hospital cardio arrest survival is not good at all."

Hitch was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital, Salisbury Township, where he was pronounced dead at 5:14 p.m., the coroner said.

"There was absolutely no sign of drowning. Overexertion can cause death. He could have been swimming, playing baseball, riding a bicycle or anything else physical which also could cause sudden death," Snyder said.

Dorney Park Vice President and General Manager John Albino said, "We thought there might be an indication of this, but we wanted to wait to give the professionals an opportunity to verify those facts.

"While we are very saddened by the death of the young man, we also have to realize we had no control over that. We wish to express our gratitude to the lifeguards, EMTs and Cetronia Ambulance Corps. They tried very hard to assist the young man."

Norm Matzl, director of instructor development at Ellis and Associates, which trains the park's instructors, said, "This is a scenario we practice -- an unconscious person. Their job is to bring them to the surface of the water and go towards the shallow end."

The company, which also trains instructors at Disney World in Orlando, Fla., and Six Flags amusement parks, sends a representative to the park once a month to ensure the lifeguards are properly trained, Matzl said.

Hitch's was the second death associated with the wave pool in as many years. Daniel Maracallo, 14, of the Bronx, N.Y., was on a school field trip when he drowned in the wave pool on June 15, 1994. His mother filed a lawsuit charging the park with negligence. The suit is pending.